Shorebird Sculpture at 72nd Street I spent the weekend in Vancouver hitting some of the Lower Mainland’s birding hot spots including the 72nd Street access to the Boundary Bay dyke. I arrived there fairly late in the day so there wasn’t too much in the way of birds aside from the ubiquitous Northern Harrier. Any of the dyke access points …
Birds
Backyard Birds – January 18-24
Just a quick backyard feeder update for the week – not much change in the number or kinds of birds visiting the feeders. We’re still getting both a male and female Downy Woodpecker regularly and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet makes appearances daily to visit the suet feeder. The single White-crowned Sparrow has been joined by at least one other adult and …
Trumpeter Swans at Woodhus Slough
Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) gliding over the water at Woodhus Slough. I headed out to Woodhus Slough this morning to do some casual birding with the kids and to check out how last week’s heavy rain, high tides and storm had affected the slough. The change was dramatic – while the dyke separating the slough from the ocean hadn’t been …
Backyard Birds – January 11-17
The challenging to photograph Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) demonstrating how to place the shadow of a twig between camera and bird. Winter is a great time to enjoy the birds that drop into the feeder. As part of Project Feederwatch I’ve noted which species are using the bird feeder and how many are commonly stopping in. This week, bushtits returned as …
Backyard Birds – January 4-10
The action at the backyard feeders this week has been interesting. I’ve noticed a significant increase in the number of Pine Siskins visiting the feeders (at one point we had over 80 Siskins at the feeder, on the ground beneath the feeder, and in the trees around our patio). American Goldfinch continue to show up in good numbers with around …
Backyard Birds – December 28 – January 3
Some new additions to the regulars at the bird feeders this week. Late last week we had a few Pine Siskins and a couple of American Goldfinches at the feeders. I added a tube feeder with black oil sunflower seeds and some niger seeds and that brought in the finches. We’ve had over 40 Pine Siskins and close to a …
Miracle Beach Birdwatching
Miracle Beach Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, British Columbia provides a good place for both forest birds and marine birds. It has a great mix of “old growth” Douglas Fir, Big Leaf Maple, and open, well established Red Alder (in the campsite area) as well as stream habitat alongside Black Creek, productive estuary habitat at the mouth of the creek, …
Campbell River Christmas Bird Count 2009/10
A full day of birding today on the Campbell River Christmas Bird Count. Fortunately the weather cooperated and while it was cool, the rain held off. My team did fairly well considering that our access to the ocean was only at the mouth of the Oyster River on Vancouver Island, and even at that included only birds south of the …
Guess that Gull
I admit that I struggle with identifying gulls. Not only do you have to deal with four years of different plumages, you have to deal with hybrids as well. It can be extremely challenging and there are many opportunities to second guess yourself. In situations like those, sometimes it’s better to simply close your eyes, wait until the gull leaves, …
Little River Ferry Christmas Bird Count 2009
I’ve been meaning to do the Little River Ferry Christmas Bird Count (CBC) since it was inaugurated by Guy Monty in 2003. For one reason or another was unable to, until this year. This count is one of the few in BC that really focuses on “off shore” birds because the count circle essentially is the Strait of Georgia between …